Process and apparatus for disintegration of wood and the like



March 30 1926. 1,578,609

' W. H. MASON PROCE-SS AND APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATIION OF WOOD AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 2 4, 1924 i! illu all i 70 1 INVENTOR I z 45 I 'Ill y (Af, MMM

7X .Y y I BY v p [ce] U ATTORNEY 'Pris-Ma? 3! 192.6'

UNITED STATES'- 1,573,609 PATENT olluca H. Janson, 0F LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI.

raocnss un arrmrus'ion msmrnenarzon or woon un THE LIxIz.

Application ld September 2'4, 1924. Serial No. 739,748.

To all 'whom zt mayl-concem: y

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. MAsoN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Laurel, countyof Jones, State of Mlsslssippi, have invented a new and useful lIm\` and refining apparatus, such as used yin paper mills in the manufacture of paper, and, after subjection to' suchapparatus, 1s

- available for manufactureof paper, board pulp, and the like. 2

' According to the resent mventlon the wood (which expression is used as aconvenient designation for ligno-cellulose material generally) is preferably hogged or .chipped into comparatively small pieces and is placed in a closed high pressure chamber,

wherein it is subjected to a gaseous ressure.

Yas of steam, compressed air or the li e, of at least 275# to the' square inch, and preferample. Steam is preferably used' at least.

. der pressure to penetrate the woo ably the pressure ranges from about 400 'to 600# to the square inch. Where pressures over`275# and-runder 400# per square in ch are made use of with wood not readily disintegrated, it is. preferablyV subjected to successive disintegration steps to 1secure thorough dislntegratio-n, and this may be done w en higher pressures are used, 1f desired.- I have found that where the wood is'discharved at pressures under 275# per sq. in,A nothing more than a partial shredding is accomplished, and the material is not `incondition'fo'r feedin directly to ap# paratussuchas paper mil beaters, lfor @xs at thev beginning of the operation since the softening action Vof steam on the wood beneficial insecuring adesirably'lhigh 'state'.4

of disinte ation. After tt for a suicient time to permit the' ases unand ef*- tablish a substantial balance between internal and external pressure and temperature within and around the `wood and to heat effected that it'can b e immedi. ately subjected, without intermediate treatment, to lthe action of the ordlnaryl beating and Fig.l 3 isa section e pressure Ahas been maintained the moisture within the wood to a, tempera.-V

ture which will cause it to turn to steam upon release lof pressure, an outlet valve of -comparatively small dimension, as compared to the cross-section dimension ofthe main chamber, 1s opened. The pressurev 4within the chamber causes the wood to be forcibly and progressively' driven out throughm valve opening, which maybe and pre rably is somewhatsmaller in atleast one. imm, .S1011 than the-largest dimension of the vpieces of wood Introduced into the chambieI-,Izj Moi@ or less compression yofthe -wood as it.- passesj the outlet appears tobe useful in obtaining the best results in disintegration@y During this progressive dischargey theY steam pressure or other sourcetof pressure is preferablykept turned on and the pressure ,within the chamber-maintained' as far as possible,

though there-may be some reduction in pressure toward the end of 'the progressivedi'scharge. In this Way .the last pieces discharged are disintegrated tosubstantiallygw the same extent as those earlier discharged. The piecesof wood as they progressively emerge are dlsrupted and dlsintegrated by the excess of internal pressure over. external pressure, which last ma Ibe substantially atmospheric pressure, an with use of preesures as stated above the `disintegration is so complete that the material can be sub.- jected immediately, without intermediate treatment of any kind, to apparatus such as paper mill `:beaterra andwhenit comes from the beater or equivalent'apparatus it` 1s a. pulp and is available for the manufacture of paper, Ypulp board, and the like.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown apparatus 'forcarrying out the ,process. Fig. 1 'isfa dia rammatical sectional view ofthe preferre form of apparatus.l

for the separator and conveyor of Fig. 1, of the outletvalve on line 3 3, of Fig..1.

sin"

Fig--2 is a cross-sectional 'view of a water',v

mlectol device, which lmay be substituted The gun v1()l containing thev 'chamber or as shown at '14,' is preferab y arranged vertically with a' top inlet opening 416 closed-by the tapervalve 18. The meas for o eratling valve lmay consist of a steam cy inder 22 with control valves124 no* The chips 28 ofv wood are shown asy gap- 20 and piston and 26.

pliedv from a hopper 30 with a gate'valve cylinder12 and preferably heat insulated,

at the topand bottom ends ofthe gun regas under pressure.

seal, or piston rings may These. chips are l preferably of substantially uniform'size, suc

'for example, as rs common practice in preparing chips for diges-` tors inthe manufacture of chemical pulp.

-The high pressure steam pipe 34 preferably is valve connected to chamber 12, as by connection 36 and 38, shown as arranged spectively.

A valve as compressed air pipe 40 may be supplied for admission of air or other A draw of Icock 41 serves for withdrawal of Water of condensation and is preferably located at the lowest point in chamber 12.

The constricted outlet 42.-in the gun base 44 is preferably of slot like" form and preferably of uniform width and tapered at the sides graduall narrowing downwardly (outwardly), as s own at 46, Fig. 3. To

`secure -best results the section of the outlet should be less than one-tenth of the section of the cylinder bore. i

A balanced slide valve is preferably provided. to control outletslot 42. In the form shown, gun base 44 includes a transversely extending valve cylinder 48 havingguides for a valve rod 50, on which are arranged the balanced valve members 52, 54. The

valve may be operated by steam piston 56 in Vcylinder 58 controlled by hand valves 60, 62. The valve piston 52, which is used to open and shut oii' the outlet, is preferably provided with grooves 64, 64, in which the fibered wood accumulates and forms a be used, if desired. In the closed position of the valve (see dotted lines in Fig. 1) one of these grooves cornes on each side of the outlet slot 42, so that valve leakage is electually prevented. Adjustable stops, such as lock nuts 66, 68, may be provided to limit, the valve moyement. The outlet when the Valve is opened (at or toward the full line position of F ig.v 1) is between pistons 52, 54, so that a balance is secured and the valve remains in any position in which it may be.

placed. u

The space between slide valve pistons -52 'and 54 is greatly enlarged compared to the outlet slot 42, permitting ample room for expansion and disintegration of the pieces of wood as they emerge from slot 42, and the conduit 72, `through which the disintegrated wood material passes rapidly, due to the force exerted behindit, and

the change of the released steam from pressure energy to velocity energy, is likewise of greatly increased cross-section as compared with outlet slot 42.

i Conduit 72 may lead to a centrifugal separator 74 of known form, vin which the steam or other expanding gas is discharged upward `at 7 `water into any convenient 'tan 6--` and the disintegrated wood discharged tangentially falls to the outlet chute 78 and may be carried away to a beater or` the..like,"as by means of a conveyor `80. The separator wall is preferably roughened where contacted by the discharged material, and the discharged material assing over Ithis roughened surface at high speed is thereb still further disintegrated.

If esired, especially where steam under pressure is made use of in the gun, the 7 conduit 72 may extend into contact with an annular source of water supply 82 giving practically an injector action, and the forcible4 contact of the water with the disintegrated material results in it being still further disintegrated and broken up. The disintegrated Wood is discharffed with the or apparatus indicated diagrammatically at 84. Separation between solids andgases is in this case not required, the steam being condensed on contact with the injector water. If desired, the disintegrated wood may be discharged from the pressure chamber directto assist in obtaining a desirably high state 'of disintegration of the wood. In the case of resinous wood the. steam discharge, as 95 76, lmaybe Carried to a condenser and the oily content as of tuiipentine and pine oil recovered by condensation and gravity separation, or where the product is blown directly into water the volatile resinous materials, as turpentine pine oil and the like, may be recovered from the water.

)Vhile I have shown but a single gun in order to disclose the principle of the invention, it will be apparent that a number of guns may be arranged in a battery to ob- I tain practically continuous operation, and same can be used for obtaining successive disintegrations when desired.

)Vhere white products or products free from substantial discoloration are desired,

I preferabl make use of small wood chips of substantially uniform size about as produced for use in chemical digestors and introduce steam at first, holding it at a temperature and lfor a period of time which will not result in discoloration of the disintegrated wood and products made therefrom. For example, I may steam the chips with steam`l at about 300# pressure per 12.0 square inch for a period of about say onehalf minute to one minute. If then the steam pressure is run up to about 400 to 600# per square inch for a few seconds, say in the neighborhood of about five seconds, and the 125 discharge valve opened immediately, the disintegrated product is substantially white with practically no discoloration, and is well adapted for paper and the like roducts. Steamproduced in a .Separate boiler is es- 130 sential' inorder to secure productslat all free lfrom, discoloration.- If thel pressureis obtained, by application of external' heat',

- direct to the gun, forexam'ple, thetime required toA roduce the necessary pressure is so great lt at such products ascan beob- 'jtai'ned arel very much discoloredfand even blackened, at least in part.

Instead of using steam Ato suppl-yzthead` ditional pressure to produce the' requlred disintegration, samemaybe supplied by means of compressed air, lwhichlsmay be made use of at aprelatively low temperature,v being yin tliis respect unlike steam in which l 'high pressure is always accompanied Aby a T corresponding high temperature. x v The voperation -will be readilyunderstood.

` vValve-18 is opened and the wood introduced.

' Valves 18, 40, 41 and 52 being closed, the ,steam is .turned on. Within a very short ,time the pressure is balanced within and 'without the pieces of wood and after prefinl erabljafdrawing oi any water of condensation by valve. 41, the outlet valve 52 1s opened and the wood pieces pro essively forced 'out are disintegrated at -t e outlet,

the sound of discharge resemblin'ghan ex-v tremely rapid .tire machine gun. l sure is preferably kept turned. on during the progressive discharge, and 1t 1s known when the charge of woodhas been completely forced out bythe sound of outrush .of steam, whereupon the steam is-shut of. -At the end of discharge the vvalve 38 alone may be open.

upier` steam he steam pressure may be applied in graduated steps, if desired, as first at a pressure of about 350# per square inch.l followed by a few seconds of steam at a pressure of 40G-600# are closed and the air valve 40 openedfor high internal pressure before o ening up a suiiicient interval to secure the necessary the discharge valve 52. With air there is not the necessity for quick discharge in securing undiscolored products that there 1s with steam, since with air h1 h vpressures are not necessarily. accompanied by high temperatures. While the valve 52 is of such construction that it can be closed when but part of the gun contents have been dis charged, preferably the valve is left o nv until substantially the complete charge as been discharged.

It will be observedthat the use of a cont Stricted outlet port and of a`balanced slide e presadvantage in eecuring .at progressive dief` `valvey inl'iconinection therewith vare of great'l charge, and-in distributing` the ex e nditur'ek,

of released pressure over a comparatively long interval of time. '.In this way it be` comes" possible to make use of a pressure suthciently lugh to secure effective disintegration of the fwood upon release, and no e substantial'diiiiculties are encountered in the way of securing the gun against vrecoil or vin the way Io controlling or maintaining the valve as wou d be encountered, for example,

with large area` valvesoperating to release the pressure lsubstantially simultaneously throughout the chamber, and also, of course,

avoided. A

vThe disintegration p ent lnventlon can be carried on at avery he. opening of sich large arealvalvesis substantial saving in fpower, it requiring onlyabout one-fifth to one-fourth of the horsepower days per ton of pulp produced bypthe yordinary grinding operation, besides being adapted, as belowv stated, to resinous woo s not availablefor pulp manufacture by grinding. Application of the present invention .to resinousv Awood -is of especialimportance. Thorough disintegration is secured with litoperation of the pres*-v tle or `no tearing orfbreaking of the-fibre,`

which may be.of substantially the-"normal maximum length. -My such wood-.as southern pine, for example,

.to be used for pulp in paper lmanufacture and the like, and the disintegration operation is not interfered with by the presence of resinous materials as in the case of grinding,.which is practically inapplicable to such woods as southern-pipe because of the resins gumming up the Agrinding wheels..

Grinding also tends -to the production of short or broken brepulp. Because of this invention enables v long fibre pulp, as sulfite pulp,is customa rily added to ground wood pul Long bre pulp `made in accordance witli my invention may be ,used for paper manufacture, if desired, without the addition of long fibre sulphite pulp, which is customarily added to groundpaper pulp to give it the necessary strength. v

In fact, long fibre Ypulp made in accordv y ance with my invention 'may advantageously be used in place of the expensive sulphite pulp to give added strength to ground paperpulp at a very decided saving over the for this purpose. y

Furthermore, the resinous material remaining in the pulp made romrresinousl wood in accordance with my 'invention'of clean resins substantially freed from volatile oils, which are carried off with the steam, imparts to products made therefrom, as paper, pulp-board, or the like, waterexpense .of sulphite pulp customarily 'used 80 r`the excessive noise of explosion produced by proofness .and ,inkproofness' to an extent which renders unnecessary o r at least sub.-

stantially reduces the need for 'the customary sizing treatment.

I claim:

1.'A The process of disintegratingA llgnocellulose material, which consists 1n subjecting:` same in substantially its natural state except for mechanical subdivision in a closed highv pressure chamber to penetrationby elastic iiuid under high pressure, and progressively forcing said material out through al relatively constricted opening 1n said chamber. The process of disintegrating lignocellulose material, which consists in subjecting same in Substantially natural state except for mechanical subdivision 1n a closed high pressure chamber to penetration by an elastic iiuid such as steam, compressed air or the like', under high pressure, and progressively forcing said material out through a relatively constricte'd opening 1n said chamber` while maintaining a high pressure therein. n

3. The process' of disintegrating lignocellulose material, which consists iii placing said material in substantially itsnatural state except for mechanical subdivlsion 1n a vertically arranged pressure chamber, subjecting same to penetration by an elastic fluid, such as steam, compressed air or the like, under high pressure, and progressively forcing said material out of said chamber through a narrow opening in the lower end thereof, whereby discharge is in the direc'- tion of gravity. g

4. The process of disintegrating lignocellulose material, which consists in placing said material in a vertically arranged pres-- sure chamber. subjecting-same to the action of an elastic Huid, such as steam, compressed air or the like, under high pressure, and progressively forcing said material out of saidv chamber through a narrow opening in the'lower end thereof, while maintaining a high pressure within said chamber.

5. The process of disintegrating lignocellulose material, which consists in introducingsame inthe form of small pieces into a closed high pressure chamber, subjecting same to the action of an elastic Huid, such as steam, compressed air or the like, under a pressure of about S50-600# per' square inch, and progressively ejecting same through a narrow outlet in the chamber.

6. The process Vof disintegrating lignocellulose material, which consists in introducing same in the form of small pieces into a closed high pressure chamber, subjecting same to the action of an elastic fluid, such as steam, compressed air or the like. under a pressure of about v3. 0-600:,H,. per square'inch, and progressively ejecting same through a narrow outlet in the chamber,

whilel maintaining a 'high pressure -within said chamber. i

7. The process of` disintegrating ligne: cellulose material, which consists in plac- :ing said material" in a closed high pressure chamber, subjecting same to the action of steam under high pressure, progressively forcing said materialout of said `chamber through a narrow opening in the chamber wall while maintaining a high pressure within said chamber, and injecting water into the stream of outgoing disintegrated material and steam, whereby the steam is condensed and the material more highly disintegrated.

vS. Apparatus for the disintegration of ligne-cellulose material comprising a high pressure cylinder, a valved inlet lfor charging said cylinder, means for the introduction of elastic fluid, such as compressed air, steam or the like, under high pressure, into said cylinder, a narrow outlet provided in the base of said cylinder, and a balanced slide valve for controlling the discharge of the material through' said outlet.

9. Apparatus for the disintegration of lingo-cellulose material comprising a high' pressure cylinder, a valved inlet for charging said cylinder, connections fory introducing elastic fluid, such as compressed air, steamer the like, under high pressure, into saidcylinder, a narrow outlet of gradually diminishing section provided in the base of said'cylinder, and a steam operated balanced slide-valve for controlling the discharge of the material through said outlet.

10. Apparatus for the disintegration 0I' ligne-cellulose material comprising a high pressure cylinder, a valved inlet for charging said cylinder, connections for introducingl elastic fluid under high pressure into said cylinder, a valve chamber adjacent to the base of said cylinder and extending transversely thereof,` a narrow outlet of gradually diminishing section provided in` the base of said cylinder and communicat-l ing with the Valve chamber, and a balanced piston valve within said valve chamber for controlling the discharge of material from the cylinder through the narrow outlet.

11. Appparatus for the disintegration of ligno-cellulose material comprising a high pressure cylinder, a valved inlet for charging' said cylinder, connections forintroducing elastic fluid under high pressure into said cylinder, a valve chamber adjacent to the base of said cylinder and extending transversely thereof, a narrowk outlet of gradually diminishing section provided in the base of said cylinder and communicating with the valvechamber, and a balanced piston valve within said valve chamberi for controlling the discharge of material from" A12. Apparatus for the disintegration of ligno-cellulose material comprising a high pressure cylinder, a valvcdinlet withv an outwardly closing valve for charging said cylinder, connections for introducing elastic Huid under high pressure into said cylinder, a valve chamber adjacent to the base of said cylinder and extending transversely thereof, a narrow outlet of'gradually diminishing section provided in the base of said cylinder.

-ligno-cellulose material comprising a high pressure cylinder, a valved inlet for charging said'cylinder, connections for introducing elastic fluid under high 'pressure' into said cylinder, a valve'charnber'v adjacent to the base of said cylinder and extending transversely thereof, a narrow outlet provided in the base of said cylinder and communicating with the valve chamber, ashaft in said valvechamber, twol 'separated pistons within the valve chamber on saidshaft, onev of which4 is adapted to be moved in front of and awavfrom said narrow outlet to control-the discharge of material from the high ressure cylinder, and the other adapted to alance the pressure against the first named piston.l

14. Apparatus for the disintegration of ligno-cellulose material comprising a highV pressure cylinder, a valved inlet for charging said cylinder, connections for introducelastic fluid under high` pressure into sa1d cylinder, a valve chamber adjacent to the base of said cylinder and extending` transversely thereof, ay narrowv outlet 'of 'gradually diminishing section provided in the base of said cylinder and communicating with the valvechamber, a shaft extending axially'through the valvechainber, and abalanced slide valve within said valve vchamber on the shaft comprising two pistons substantially separated f from one another, whereby a large expansion arca is provided immediately upon the discharge of the material from the highlpress'ure cylinder through the narrow outlet, and means for *actuating the yalve shaft to open and close the outlet valve. 15. A cylinder for pressure release disintegration of ligne-cellulose material havf ing a relativelynarrow outlet opening, and

. a balanced valve for lsaid opening.-

16,` A cylinder for pressure release disintegration of ligno-cellulose.material hav- 6l ing a relatively narrow outlet opening, and a balanced piston slide valve for said opening. v

17. The process of producing substantiallyundiscolored disintegrated wood,which consists in subdividing the wood into small pieces of substantially uniform size about, as made 4use of in preparing chips for chemical reduction, applying steam thereto in a closedchamber at a pressure of about 275-350# per square inch for a relatively extended period, applying steam at a higher f pressure of about 40G-600# per square inch for a relatively short period, and then immediately discharging the contents of the cham .0

vber through a constrict'ed orifice, whereby subsantia tained. 18. The process of producing substanly undiscolored products are ob,-

tially undiscolored disintegrated wood.` which u consists in charging into a closed chamber small wood chips of substantially uniform size, subjecting same to a pressure of about 275-350# per square inch for a relatively extended period of say one-half minute Ito 9 one minute, increasing the steam pressure to 40G-600# per square inch for a relatlvely short period of a few seconds, and progressively discharging the contents of said chamber through a whereby substantially undiscolored products are obtained.

19. The process of ,disintegrating wood, which comprises the steps of subjecting it in constricted orifice, 9

substantially-natural state, except for me- 10 chanical subdivisioin, to penetration by steam under pressure of the order of 350# per square inch, and releasing the pressure.

20. The process of disintegrating wood,

which comprises the steps of subjecting it, 1n 105 substantially natural state except for mechanical subdivision, to vpenetration by steam .under pressure of the order of 350# per square inch, then subjecting it to steam at a materially higher pressure (and temperature) for a relatively short time interval, and releasing Ithe wood into a region j where the pressure is not substantially in cxcess of atmospheric.v

21. The processl cellulose material, which consists in subjecting same in a closed high pressure chamber to penetration by angel'astic fluid under pressure in excess of 275 pounds per square material through ,a relatively. constricted outlet from said chamber, whereby the y.ex-

ansion of the fluid is utilized for disintevlgrating saidl material.`

In testimony whereof, I have signed my '.1

name hereto.

g. WILLIAM H. MASON,

of disintegwung ligno- 1.

inch, and progressively discharging' said 120, 

